This was a project created for Jessica Hische’s Skillshare class challenge. For more on the sketches and process that led to the final outcome shown here (crows play a major part in the book), head over to the Skillshare project page: M for Murakami.

I have always loved Murakami and it was definitely hard to pick one. In the end after mulling for a while, I've decided on Kafka on the Shore because of its craziness and a whole lot of other-worldly symbolisms and I'm not surprised to find others who've picked the same book.

The book has two parallel stories that converge in the same location, much like his newer book 1Q84. Two main characters are Kafka, a fifteen year-old boy and Nakata, an old man who has the ability to talk to cats. Unlike what may seem to be science fiction or a fantasy novel, the book sits somewhere between surrealism/mysticism, with a good mingling of Japanese spiritual innuendos, and simple ordinary living (Nakata talking to the cats about eating eel/unagi and the many music references — Radiohead, Schubert, Prince, Bob Dylan, Otis Redding and more).